1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1123
Even if Haihan is powerful in the southern coastal areas, it is impossible for the officials in Fuzhou and Guangxi to completely surrender to them, and Haihan has no roots in North China and Northeast China. Wang Tom is also very clear about this, and there is no hope. Being able to take the entire Dongjiang Town for his own use, he cared more about the Dongjiang Town's signboard.Daming needs this overseas division to hold back Hou Jin who is about to move, and Haihan can also use Dongjiang Town's authority to carry out operations in the Liaodong sea area in a legal way, and even use the name of Dongjiang Town to actually control the area that will be occupied in the future.

Even if Shen Shikui is loyal to the Ming court, given Dongjiang Town's current predicament, it will be difficult for him to refuse the cooperation terms offered by Haihan, and there are still many active young people like Shen Zhixiang below. The support is getting lower and lower, and the dependence and loyalty of these young officers to the court will gradually decrease.And when they get to know Hai Han's true strength through contact, their mentality will inevitably change. Coupled with Hai Han's extremely good brainwashing methods, it is probably only a matter of time before they win over the young officers in Dongjiang Town.

Qian Tiandun said: "Is this the purpose of bringing that Shen Zhixiang back?"

Tom Wang shook his head with a smile and said, "It's not that I want to bring him back. Shen Shikui appointed him to come to Dengzhou as a representative. It can be seen that he has won Shen Shikui's trust. According to Xie Li's experience on the island and our Based on the information we have, it is very likely that Shen Zhixiang is currently the third in command of Dongjiang Town, and it will definitely come in handy when he is brought over."

"Then what do you plan to do with the prisoners you captured in Lushun?" Sun Changmi asked, "Shouldn't these people be able to return to Daming?"

"They all know very well that if they return to Daming, they will go to prison immediately and wait for the military law to deal with them. Most of them will be beheaded." Wang Tom said: "Even if we let them go, this group of people has nowhere to go. Liaodong played for Houjin and fought Dongjiang Town. When they return to Liaodong, Houjin will continue to be used as cannon fodder, and Dongjiang Town will definitely not be able to accommodate them. The world is so big that only we can take in these people. These people are They are members of the Terengganu Navy, and they can be arranged to serve in the navy with a little modification and training, which is still very useful to us.”

The way Haihan used to deal with prisoners of war was, in principle, to put them into a hard labor camp first, and reform them through labor for a period of time.Of course, for some captives with special skills or identities, Haihan will also appropriately give more opportunities for them to choose to serve in their own camp.Many of the personnel currently serving in the Haihan Army used to be prisoners of war, and among them are high-ranking military officials such as Gao Qiaonan and Wu Mori.Therefore, for the military, it is not without precedent to transform and use prisoners of war, or even directly incorporate them into the military establishment.

Judging from the information Haihan came into contact with after he came to Shandong, whether it is Dengzhou Prefecture or Dongjiang Town, they all have a relatively high evaluation of the former Dengzhou Navy, and believe that this force is a naval force under the jurisdiction of the Shandong Capital Division. A strong army, and most of this army went to Liaodong because they were coerced by the rebels. Now that they are in a delicate situation and unable to return to Daming, Wang Tom naturally thought of taking this group of people under his command.In fact, part of the reason for showing mercy to his subordinates in Jinzhou Bay a few days ago was due to this consideration.

If a group of ex-Ming army soldiers who are familiar with the sea conditions of Jiaodong Peninsula and Liaodong Peninsula join in, Haihan's actions in this area will surely save a lot of useless work, which will also play a great role in completing the task of marching into Liaodong in the future. help.

"Then bring this group of people forward first, and arrange labor tasks separately!" Sun Changmi made a decision even following Tom Wang's wishes.At present, the construction sites on the island are all deployed and supervised by him in charge of personnel. After these prisoners arrived in Hong Kong, they should have been directly assigned to the hard labor camp to work with the prisoners of the Wanjia Army captured some time ago. However, since the military intends to If we want to select and use some people, we can't use these people as slaves to squeeze them.

"Well, it's good to show Shen Zhixiang, let him understand our attitude from the side." Wang Tom agreed with Sun Changmi's proposal.Haihan's attitude towards these prisoners of war is a little more relaxed, and Shen Zhixiang should also be touched.

Even though Sun Changmi called his subordinates to come in, he ordered them to deal with the arrangements for the prisoners of war.

Wang Tom continued after he finished explaining the work: "After we contacted the Phi Island garrison, we have reached a preliminary agreement on the immigration issue. We will organize sea ships to move the people out of Phi Island. In the name of Phi Island, provide some food supplies to Phi Island in advance so that the soldiers and civilians on the island will not starve to death. However, the scale of immigration from Phi Island probably depends on the progress of our infrastructure construction.”

"About how many refugees are there on Phi Island?" Hao Wanqing, who had just rushed back from the outside, walked to the door of the meeting room just in time to hear Tom Wang's introduction, and asked with great concern when he stepped into the meeting room.

"I conservatively estimate that there are at least 5000 Liaodong refugees on the island." Wang Tom paused and added: "It should be much more immigrants than we can recruit in Fushan County."

After the war in Fushan County, there are only about [-] local people left, and among them, those who are willing to leave their homeland to find another way out are limited. Currently, Haihan’s immigration recruitment activities in Fushan County have been going on for more than half a month, and the number of recruits is increasing. The gradual downward trend shows that the fleeing mentality of the local people has begun to settle down, and leaving home is no longer the only option for survival.And Haihan destroyed the Wanjia Army who was domineering in Fushan County. This measure also promoted the psychological changes of the local people to a certain extent. Now that there is no external threat, many people want to return to their previous lives. state.

Of course, Haihan's immigration measures will not be limited to Fushan County. As the scope of activities expands, the area for recruiting immigrants will also expand outward.Therefore, the immigrant camp on Zhifu Island has been continuously expanding. According to the plan of the headquarters, at least before the arrival of this winter, the camp on Zhifu Island must be able to provide winter living conditions for at least [-] immigrants.However, judging from the current situation, this goal may be set a little too low. If the Liaodong refugees are really introduced from Phi Island, the population growth rate on Zhifu Island may be far faster than it is now. For living facilities, sanitation Conditions and food supply requirements will increase accordingly.

"There are more than 3 people... that needs to be carefully planned!" After Sun Changmi sighed, he and Hao Wanqing looked at each other, and both showed a wry smile.They are responsible for most of the immigration resettlement work on the island. When they suddenly heard that there are tens of thousands of immigrants waiting to be transported back from the other side of the Yellow Sea, they will inevitably worry about the various urgent problems that will be brought about when they are excited.

There is a sea between Phi Island and Zhifu Island. To transport so many people back, the transportation capacity required is not a small amount.However, this sea is both an obstacle and a buffer. Haihan can control the speed of transporting immigrants by himself to avoid chaos caused by a large number of immigrants flooding Zhifu Island in a short period of time.

At the same time, Xie Li was also taking Shen Zhixiang and Pan Yan to visit the immigrant camp on the island. Ge Yong, the secretary of the civil affairs department, was responsible for guiding the three of them.

"At present, we have built camps on the island that can accommodate 500 immigrants. Every [-] people are divided into one camp, and there are five brigades, and each has ten small teams, each with ten people." Ge Yong While introducing, he raised his finger to the wooden shacks that had been built on the side of the road: "Every dormitory here is a ten-person room, and each room is a team. The sign hanging outside the room is the number of the team. Every day when going to work, eating, and listening to training, the number of people is counted in units of teams."

Shen Zhixiang noticed that these huts were of uniform standard, and the foundations were clearly leveled. The drainage ditches, fire protection belts, and central heating facilities with chimneys outside the houses were all in place. It can be seen that Haihan did not do this. It was an impromptu idea, but after extremely thorough planning and preparation.Judging from the effect of the implementation, Haihan's professionalism in the field of immigration also made him amazed. Such a meticulous management of the camp is definitely beyond the level of a novice.

Shen Zhixiang asked: "Then these people are all recruited from the local area? Will they all be sent to the south for resettlement?"

Ge Yong nodded and said: "At present, most of the immigrants on the island are from the surrounding areas of Fushan County. The local government can't give them a way out, but we can. We have a lot of land in the south that needs manpower to cultivate. There are many Many jobs need to be filled by labor. After they arrive in the south, they can earn their own living and start living again, instead of lingering like beggars. But before they go to the south to start a new life, they have to work on Zhifu Island for a period of time. These barracks, The pier and living facilities are also under our command and built by them themselves. On the one hand, this is to prepare for the follow-up immigration recruitment, and on the other hand, it is also to let them adapt to our way of life here. The most important thing is here Learn the rules that must be followed during the period.”

"Rules?" Shen Zhixiang was a little sensitive to this word, and raised his eyebrows slightly: "Could it be that after these immigrants go to the south, they won't have the chance to return to their hometown?"

"Yes, of course!" Ge Yong knew that the other party might have misunderstood, so he explained to him: "If they want to, of course they can come back, but before that, they must also work for us in the south for a period of time, so that Compensation for the expenses we paid during the immigration process. In fact, many sailors and crew members in our fleet to Shandong this time are refugees from Shandong who were taken in before. If General Xiao Shen is interested, he can ask them for an interview later. Learn about the living conditions of the people from the north when they come to our Haihan jurisdiction."

Ge Yong avoids the important and ignores the trivial, explaining the "rules" that immigrants need to learn in an understatement, without talking about their true nature.Ordinary immigrants do have the freedom to leave Haihan after repaying the immigration fee, but how many of these people will choose to become Haihan nationality after going to the south, and how many people will choose to return to Daming to settle down, Ge Yong consciously did not mention it up.

After hearing this answer, Shen Zhixiang didn't say yes or no. In fact, he had already noticed the composition of Haihan's personnel.On the way to Zhifu Island on the Haihan battleship, many of the crew members he met had a northern accent, especially the leaders at all levels on the ship, who almost all spoke with a northern accent.Shen Zhixiang didn't know that this accent was Haihan's official dialect, and subconsciously thought that these people were probably born in northern Daming, so he deliberately inquired about Haihan's immigration policy.

Pan Yan also interjected at this time and asked: "Brother Ge, are all the residents here transported from the south by boat for food and clothing?"

Ge Yongying said: "This is indeed the case at present. Yesterday, the fleet from Zhejiang brought in another 40 catties of grain, more than 1000 bolts of cotton cloth, and a large amount of medicinal materials. Most of these things must be used by immigrants. However, after we gain a foothold, we will organize the people to carry out reclamation on the island and the area around Zhifu Bay, striving to achieve self-production and self-sale of food, and reduce the pressure on supplies.”

Pan Yan's eyes almost bulged out when he heard this. During the year he went to Liaodong, the unit of measurement for rice noodles he usually touched never exceeded ten catties, and sometimes the military rations he received were even calculated in taels.Hou Jin didn't want to feed these surrendered soldiers and generals too much, and has been consciously controlling that the monthly food storage in their hands will not exceed half a month, so as to prevent these Han people from rebelling when any muscle is wrong.

Shen Zhixiang was naturally quite shocked. Although he was not hungry when he was in Phi Island, he probably knew the difficulty of raising food.Whether it is Ming Dynasty or North Korea, it can be said that there are very few times when one hundred thousand catties of grain can be given out at a time.Fortunately, there were production areas in Lushun and Changshan Islands in the past, and they were able to supplement their own food to some extent. However, after these two places were lost, the problem of food supply on Phi Island has not been effectively resolved. If there is no army on the island to maintain Order, I am afraid that the tragic scene of changing children and eating has long appeared.

If Ge Yong wasn't bragging, Haihan's execution ability far surpassed that of the local government of Ming Dynasty in terms of the strength of the grain transportation.As far as they know, at least places like Dengzhou Prefecture have to raise 40 catties of relief food in a short period of time, unless the officers and soldiers go directly to the countryside and search those big landlords and gentry from house to house, otherwise it is almost impossible things that can be done.And Haihan's great generosity also fully demonstrated their determination in recruiting immigrants.

"The cost is so huge. If your country relocates these refugees to the south for resettlement, can you really get back the money in the future?" Shen Zhixiang couldn't help asking Ge Yong a question that had troubled him for a long time.

(End of this chapter)